SINGAPORE: An HR professional took to social media on Wednesday (Oct 2) to share her surprise at job seekers’ salary expectations.
In a post on the NUSWhispers Facebook page, she talked about how she recently interviewed ‘NUS grads or grads with 1-2 years of niche experience’ and was shocked when most of them asked for at least S$4,800 to S$5,500.
“For context, this is an in-house HR role in an SME. The niche experience is a relatively small area of the industry so in terms of value add, these candidates would have a big gap to fill,” she explained.
“Think a learning & development executive, payroll executive, or HR admin applying for a senior executive role (generalist required to be able run in-house operations).
From job boards, S$4800-S$5500 is the range of Assistant Manager or even Manager in smaller companies,” she further explained.
This situation left her wondering if these candidates were unaware of the market realities or if there had been a significant shift in salary expectations among young professionals.
She then asked others, “Have salaries inflated so much over the past few years, or are NUS grads being delulu?”
“Ever heard of the term “INFLATION”?”
In the comments section, netizens pointed out that the current job market is tougher than it used to be. With rising inflation and the ever-increasing cost of living, younger professionals feel pressured to aim for higher salaries, even at the beginning of their careers.
One netizen humorously highlighted the housing crisis by saying, “Now 4-room flat also $1mil. How to work for cheap. Just hire the foreigner like you intended in the first place lor. no quota izzit.”
Another commented, “Ever heard of the term “INFLATION”?”
Some also argued that it’s unreasonable for companies to still offer the same pay as they did in the past, given the financial pressures young professionals face today.
One netizen asked, “10 years ago, I was earning $3.8k bao sua bao hai, now 10 years later you still offering same pay ah?” Another said, “That’s why SMEs cannot attract good locals to join – crazy bao sua bao hai job role, low pay.”
Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)